Detroit Lions dilemma: Fire Jim Caldwell or waste Matthew Stafford

We’re on to 2018

The next year Lions fans will again repeat the cycle. We might limp into a wild card berth and lose in an embarrassing way. Perhaps, fall short of the postseason. Whichever, I’ll see you right back here next year.

Unless changes are made.

General manager, Bob Quinn, will draft some new players, sign a couple more, talk about how great everything is. He’ll say how he’s committed to help Stafford. The coaches and other staff will talk “change.”

Like good fans, Lions fans will drink it up when the team has to produce nothing.

Spring and summer are the times to be Kool-aid fans; to salivate over some new draft prospect(s), pour over the stats of some new free agent, fans will do it because we want things to be better.

If you read the news around the Lions, it is now mostly centered on the future.

Who should we draft to improve the team? 

Is Jim Caldwell the right coach for the future?

Should we consider getting rid of, or trading, Matt Stafford?

History repeats itself

As experienced Detroit Lions fans we have seen this episode. We saw it just last year, as a matter of fact. That isn’t the only time, though.

I read some articles referencing Wayne Fontes, former head coach of the Lions, and comparing Jim Caldwell to him. It’s a good comparison because he was a mediocre coach, as well.

Fontes spent eight years as the full-time head coach. He won 64 games and lost 64 regular season games. The Lions made the playoffs in exactly four of those, half of his seasons. If that isn’t the definition of mediocre, I don’t know what is. The Ford’s kept him around, though.

The only real results he ever produced were one division title and one playoff win, in the 1991-1992 season. I was a fan then, too.

Fontes rode Hall of Fame running back, Barry Sanders, into our record books. Every year saying he was going to get help for Barry. Every year we let Barry get another year older waiting for help.

I think you probably see where I’m going with this, but I’ll be less subtle.

Caldwell and Fontes

Caldwell is Fontes. Caldwell is 33-26 and has coached the Lions to the playoffs in two of his four seasons. Fontes won 30 games in his first four years, with one playoff appearance. Wayne also had his best year in there, too.

Stafford is our star player with a shelf life. Part of the reason I dislike Caldwell is because of watching Barry’s career waste away under a mediocre coach who was only held accountable after a decade of okay. The Ford family is content with mediocrity.